The Past, Present, and Future Hokage
by CyberFreq
Summary: [UPDATE: CH 9] What if Naruto had passed on his own, not needing the Kage Bunshin to impress and save Iruka? What if Jiraiya was their teacher? What if he had a father? Possible NaruHina, unknown Saku or Sasu. I don't own Naruto.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. However, I do own a large amount of ramen and hopefully it shall be enough to draw him out.

_Thoughts_

"speaking"

**Jutsu**

_**Kyuubi**_

**Chapter 1 – Graduation**

The sounds of hands slapping together in a set of seals could be heard all over the Konoha Academy as students were trying to create an effective Bunshin in an attempt to "cram" for the exam. However, none were more desperate than Uzumaki Naruto, dead last of his class and Academy failure for two years running.

"**Bunshin no Jutsu**!" POOF! He expectantly looked to his left, expecting to see a complete Bunshin but instead saw a half-deformed mass of arms wriggling on the ground.

"Gah! That's the fifth time today! WHY CAN'T I GET THE BUNSHIN RIGHT!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands to the sky.

"It's because you can't focus you're chakra correctly. Duh," says a girl's voice to his right. He turned to the right and saw the crush of his life, her forehead glinting in the bright sunlight.

"Sakura-chan!" he said, beginning to drool on himself. He never was one to hide emotions.

"Don't get your hopes up. I was only here because I saw Sasuke-kun over there, making his _tenth_ Bunshin today," she said, emphasizing the tenth. "And by the look of you're buddy here," she pointed at the Arm-Bunshin, "you haven't been doing so well."

"Gah! I know! Iruka-sensei says it's my only problem, but I just can't get it right! Can you help!" he practically is begging her.

"Fine! Only because it'll give me some help too. Iruka-sensei says I 'need to spend more time helping others because of my _perfect_ chakra control'," she says, earning a rather loud "YEA!" from Naruto. "Quiet!"

"Oops…sorry!" he says, at least having the dignity to looked sheepish. "What do I need to do, Sakura-chan?"

"First, you need to get the right amount of chakra flowing to your hands, and then release it in Bunshin form through the correct seal. The seal for this particular Jutsu is the Ram." She demonstrates these principles by focusing her chakra for a moment, then going through the seal.

_Ram. _"**Bunshin no Jutsu**!" POOF! A perfect copy of Sakura suddenly appeared behind Naruto. "My Sakura-Bunshin will show you what to do from now on, acting mush like a recorded message. For now my precious Sasuke-kun awaits!" She runs off, hearts in her eyes … and runs straight into Yamanaka Ino, her No. 1 friend and enemy, in competition for Sasuke's eyes. Needless to say, much fighting ensued between "Ino-pig!" and "Forehead Girl!"

Over by the Sakura-Bunshin, Naruto was watching the clone perform the seals over and over, and practiced them himself. It kept saying – in a ridiculously flat voice – "Get the right chakra flowing, then unleash it with the Ram." Naruto decided after about 5 minutes of this, he'd had enough and decided to try it out for real. He focused his chakra for a moment, not overflowing but not stopping it too soon, and then unleashed it with the seal.

_Ram. _"**Bunshin no Jutsu**!" POOF! There next to him, for the first time, Naruto saw a perfect Bunshin of himself. He was speechless. He had learned a jutsu from a recorded message!

"…I DID IT! ALL RIGHT!" he exclaimed, hurting the ears of every shinobi and kunoichi in the area.

"NARUTO, SHUT UP!" they all responded almost in unison.

"Alright class, it's time for the start of the Graduation Exam! Please come inside and take a seat. You will be called in order by name," a voice by the door said. Naruto turned to look and was excited to see that Iruka was going to be on the examination team this year. _Alright, I'll finally stand a chance! _He thought. He rushed inside and chose a seat, waaay in the back.

Iruka came back to the door. "First up to be examined is…Aburame Shino! Please follow me."

The heir to the Aburame clan followed him back, and 5 minutes later, came back through, with nothing different…apparently. However, dumb though he may be, Naruto is observant and saw a scrap of blue hanging out of his pocket. _A forehead protector! _he thought. The list went on, from "Akimichi Chouji" to "Haruno Sakura" and "Nara Shikamaru."

This continued, with no differences until it came to "Uchiha Sasuke. Please follow me." And the lone Uchiha went in back, and his fan girls all fainted in anticipation of his passing or not. Less than 3 minutes later he came back, clearly wearing his Leaf Protector over his forehead, and his fan girls (the ones still conscious) fainted once more after seeing it. Naruto hailed Sasuke, and congratulated him. Sasuke, not one to take compliments so easily, merely smirked as if to say "Did you think I'd fail?"

The next thing that happened however almost caused him to wet himself. Iruka had appeared at the door again and called "Uzumaki Naruto. Please follow me."

A/N: You like? You don't like? You want more? Just review and I'll answer you in my next update!

**Word Count: 797**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: See previous chapter. Still have a lot of ramen though.

**Chapter 2 – Examination Time**

"Uzumaki Naruto. Please follow me," was all that the Academy student needed to hear before he rushed to the door and replied "Here I am Iruka-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, ready to show the examiners that he could pass this time.

"Very well. Come now," was the only response he got, though it sounded pre-recorded. Naruto suspected that it was to not show any favoritism over another student, so he let it slide.

When they arrived in the exam room, Iruka told Naruto to please sit down in the lone chair, and went to sit behind a long table that was set up. "Uzumaki Naruto, this exam will entail three parts: a question part, a practical part, and a … hidden part. Do you accept these terms, or do you wish to try again in the next exam?" asked a silver-haired chuunin by the name of Mizuki, whose face Naruto had never seen before.

"I accept these terms, because I REFUSE TO GO BACK TO THE ACADEMY AGAIN!" shouted Naruto, earning a grimace from Mizuki, a smile from Iruka, and nothing from the last member, a Hyuuga by the looks of her.

Iruka was the first to speak. "I am the one to test you on your shinobi knowledge through a series of questions. First, what are the two basic weapons and one supply item that every ninja should carry?"

Naruto had to think about this for a moment – he never quite got the hang of weapons, preferring Taijutsu over anything. After a while he finally said "Kunais, shuriken, and scrolls, from a summoning scroll to exploding tags."

Iruka responded keeping that prerecorded message voice he had used earlier. "Correct. Please name the ranks of a ninja, from lowest to highest and any additional information you may know." This was where Naruto shined; he had spent hours studying all the different ranks of a Ninja Village.

"That would be the Academy Student, Genin, Chuunin, Jounin, ANBU members which have equal status to a Jounin, and then the Kage, or Hokage in Konoha's case."

Once again, Iruka responded, and asked him his last question, which baffled Naruto: "How many Hidden Villages are there on the Elemental Continent, and who is allied with whom as of our knowledge?" Naruto had no choice but to give up, he never chose to study history, hating as he said those words.

"It is okay that you gave up, Naruto, I don't think anybody in the world save for the Kages know exactly how many Hidden Villages there are and who's allied to whom. This ends the test part for the exam, you have passed my test," Iruka told the very excited boy, but that excitement was quelled when Mizuki took the stand.

"I will examine you for the practical portion. Please demonstrate for me the Bunshin no Jutsu by creating 2…decent Bunshins," he said in a condescending tone, because he was well aware of Naruto's ineptitude at the Bunhin. However, what he didn't know was that Naruto had been practicing.

He molded some chakra, and then formed the ram seal, putting one hand over the other.

"**Bunshin no Jutsu**!" POOF! POOF! Two Bunshins appeared next to Naruto, much to his happiness and to Mizuki's disgust that he may have to pass the dead last of this year.

"Fine, you pass this portion of the practical. Next, you must perform a halfway decent Kawarimi on… that paperweight over there," Mizuki stated, pointing to said paperweight.

"No problem!" said Naruto, and once that was said he began to mold some more chakra, then formed the Tiger seal 1 and with a POOF! vanished, to be replaced by the paperweight. However, the paperweight was on the table, and was placed in front of the Hyuugan examiner. As such, when Naruto Kawarimi'd, he landed facing the opposite direction of her, making her stare at his buttocks. With a quick punch, however, that was soon rectified 2 and Naruto was eagerly awaiting the final part of this portion.

Mizuki gave some serious thought, and decided to play on his absolutely worst skill – the Henge. "Naruto, for the last part, you must Henge yourself into any one of the three of us perfectly," said Mizuki, confident that Naruto would fail. However, Naruto proved himself again, doing a perfect Henge into who else but Mizuki, if to do nothing but spite him. A vein began throbbing on his forehead, and with much reluctance said "Uzumaki Naruto…passes my test." And with that he nodded at the Hyuugan.

The Hyuugan said nothing, merely nodded back, stood up and jumped to in front of the table. She walked over to Naruto, and looked him in the eyes. He felt her gaze penetrating into the back of his head, and could have sworn he felt a dull poke on his skull. After this strange ordeal, she stood up, looked at Iruka, then reached into her pocket and pulled out…a forehead protector!

1 I don't know the right seals for half these things, so I'm gonna start making em up when I don't know them.

2 I could not resist this joke. If you don't get it, think of another word for butt that sounds like rectify.

A/N: Well? Comments? Criticisms? Cheddar Cheese? Please leave feedback, and I'll get to it.

**Word Count: 823**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Oh forget it, just look at the first 2 chappies.

"speaking"

_thoughts_

**Jutsu**

_**Kyuubi**_

**Chapter 3 – Meeting the Team**

…she stood up, looked at Iruka, then reached into her pocket and pulled out…a forehead protector!

"Naruto-kun, this is the hitai-ate of the Leaf. In accepting this piece of your nin-uniform, you realize the full duties of a shinobi and the dangers that go with it. Do you accept it?" the Hyuugan said, looking Naruto directly in the eyes again.

"You bet I am! How else am I gonna become Hokage?" he explained his reasoning to her, earning a light chuckle from her, and a warm smile from Iruka, but nothing except a cold scornful smirk from Mizuki.

"Congratulations, kid. You did good," said Iruka, "now now keep on going on your path and proudly become a Konoha-Nin!"

Fired by this mere sentence, Naruto dashed out of the room and began to – in HIS subtle way -brag that he finally passed, which means yelling it out so loud some Rock-Nins had to cover their ears.

About 15 minutes later, all of the Academy students were finished, and Naruto saw only 30 of them actually became Genin. The 21 that failed just looked at them sadness in their eyes. However, he couldn't dwell on that for long because Iruka was giving them their first official instructions.

"Right, congratulations to those who passed the Exam, and I give my sorrow to those who failed. Please try again next time, and I'm sure you'll pass. You are dismissed now, and I expect to see you in class tomorrow. Now, to all Genin, please come forward when your name is called and you will be given your team assignments and your sensei's name," announced Iruka, and immediately began calling names.

Naruto watched at each member receive their scroll, and when his name came up it looked like he teleported to the desk he moved so fast. He eagerly took his scroll, said a courteous "Arigatou, Iruka-sensei" and left just as fast. He opened it up, and saw his teammates were "Haruno Sakura" (_Heck yea! I'm on Ssakura-chan's team!_) and "Uchiha Sasuke" (_ACK! Not the bastard!_). After these reactions to this teammates, he read his sensei's name and began to think, as he had heard it somewhere, but couldn't quite remember. He looked over at Sasuke and Sakura, then said to himself "Jiraiya, the Gama-Sennin, eh?"

The note held no other information except that it told him to "Meet his team at the lake at 9 o' clock tomorrow. Any tardiness will be punished severely." After everyone had read their notes, looked at each other, then read the notes again, they started to head home, which meant for Naruto to head home as well, and so he did.

When he arrived home, he saw his dad, named Uzumaki Shun, sitting at the table, reading the paper and sipping some coffee. Naruto's entrance awakened him from his little trance and prompted the big question: "Well?"

"Dad, I have some good news, and some bad news. The good news…" he held his response for dramatic effect, much to the anxiety of his father…"I PASSED!" he said, earning a proud look from his dad.

"And the bad news?" asked Shun.

"Well, I don't actually have bad news, it's just weird to have good news without bad news, don't you think?" he stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Of course it is, son. Now, we have a few things we need to discuss now that you're a ninja. Since you've become a genin, Uzumaki family traditions state I must teach you a special family technique," said Shun, earning a drool from Naruto, ever the sucker for a new jutsu.

"REALLY! OH WOW, THANKS DAD!" he shouted, getting a quick "You're welcome" and a slight bop on the head accompanied by a "Stop shouting. A ninja has self-control" eventually leading to a "We need to hurry though, it's 2 o' clock right now" from Shun.

"Got it! So, where do we go now?" asked Naruto, calming down enough not to shatter people's eardrums.

"Now, we go to the Uzumaki family vault at the Konahagakure Bank. We need to withdraw a scroll for you," answered the older Uzumaki, standing up from the table and hopping out the window. "Keep up!"

"Oh no you don't!" shouted Naruto, always ready for a challenge, and a race seemed perfect, considering the Bank was on the opposite side of town. HE followed his dad out the window, then. Gathering chakra to hid legs, sprinted off, bounding over the rooftops, hoping to catch up to one of Konoha's fastest shinobi.

He finally made it to the bank after almost stopping for some ramen because it had a sign saying "Half off : All Ramen, Today only!" Only by sheer willpower and the promise of a new jutsu could he get away from it, and actually make it to the bank to meet his father… who happened to be sleeping on the bench in front?

"DAD!" yelled Naruto, hoping to get Shun's attention.

"Zzzz- wha? Huh? Oh it's you," was all he said before he stood up, stretched, and began to walk inside. "C'mon, we need to get to the vault. The bank looks like it's about to close," said Shun, oblivious (or so it seemed) to his 'little' nap.

The two Uzumakis entered the bank and walked up to the receptionist, who greeted them with a "Hello, Uzumaki-san, hello Uzumaki-kun, how may I help you?"

"Yes, we're here for access to our vault, number 10101993? We would like to make a withdrawal," explain Shun, while trying to keep Naruto from jumping up and down in excitement. "Hold still Naruto or we head home now!" Shun almost shouted at his son, who was just on the border of wetting himself at the thought of a new jutsu.

"Ah yes, vault 10101993, the Uzumaki family vault. Please step this way with me, and we'll get you there safely," said the worker, ringing a bell to signal she was leaving the desk.

They walked to the back of the bank, and finally stopped at a large door inscribed with the word "Uzumaki" on it. She gave Shun instructions to open it, and once it was open, she bade them a cheerful "Good day!" and left to get back to the front desk, waiting to serve the next customer.

What Naruto saw in the vault was too much for him. He went ballistics in excitement, for in the vault lay hundreds of scrolls, containing information all sorts of jutsus from Tai- to Gen- to Nin-, and even a VERY small stack on Kin-jutsu. Naruto's eyes wandered to the Nin-jutsu part, and he began walking over, while Shun just stood there and laughed.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town in the Hokage tower, a certain Sannin walked into the Hokage's office, yelling "Sarutobi-sensei! What is the meaning of making me a team leader? I requested at least two more years off of work for personal reasons!"

The Sandaime merely nodded in thought, then responded with a quick "You designed the seal on the Uzumaki kid's stomach, right? I thought the least you could do is watch the Yondaime's nephew lest the seal breaks."

**A/N: **Ahh, I don't know what it is, but writing a long chapter feels…good. Sorry to take this down, but I felt I HAD to add on more. Sorry for that, I apologize.

And to the reviews, I will keep this up, unless it loses interest, but I doubt that, seeing as how alternate this is gonna be.

**Word Count: 1199 (wow)**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Feh. Read the other chaps.

"speak"

_Thought_

**Jutsu**

_**Kyuubi**_

**Chapter 4 – The Jutsu**

"Naruto, pick a scroll so we can leave!" Shun told his impatient son, wanting to get home so he could finish the paper. "We don't have all day. We need to get home so we can practice."

"I know!" responded Naruto, with a hint of impatience in his voice – surprising, considering HE was the reason Shun was impatient. "I just need to pick the right one."

After this little exchange, Naruto wandered to the 'K' section of the vault. _Hmmm… Kuchiyose, eh? I'll take this one! _"Dad! I found it!" he exclaimed, drawing Shun over and making him look at the scroll. _The Kuchiyose? Interesting choice. I know Iruka-san was telling me he had incredible stamina and chakra reserves, but the Kuchiyose requires not only those but immense control. Still…_Shun thought these over, and decided he would teach his son how to summon.

"Alright, starting as soon as we get home, we'll get started on the Kuchiyose!" Shun said, earning a "YEAH!" from Naruto, who received another bonk on the head and another "Be quiet" from Shun.

They walked up to the front desk, and told them this was the scroll they'd take. She took it, looked it up, and signed it tout of the vault, and told them to "return it if need be," though Naruto had no intention of returning it until he had completely mastered it, hopefully within time for the Chuunin Exam next year.

The two decided to head home in a slower fashion then running over the rooftops, enjoying the scenery, when they bumped into a rather angry Jiraiya, who was just leaving the Hokage Tower, muttering something about "stupid students" and "senile old man." The Uzumaki's decided to let it be, as neither of them recognized the man because he was walking kind of fast and his large hair had covered about half of his face.

"That was…strange," Naruto decided to voice both of their thoughts.

"Agreed," agreed Shun, deciding they should speed up to avoid further…incidents. About 5 minutes later, they landed in front of their house and walked to the back yard to begin training Naruto in the art of Summoning.

"Now, Naruto, in order to summon, you need a contract, which we will obtain momentarily, but first" he stopped, grabbed the scroll Naruto had been drooling over for the past ten minutes to check if it was current (it was) then popped the seal on it and handed it back, finishing his earlier statement with a "read this."

The scroll was a basic jutsu scroll, telling you the correct seal sequence and showing a diagram of what each seal looked like in the sequence. But what was strange was the scroll mentioning something of a sacrifice?

"Uh, dad? What does it mean by a sacrifice?" Naruto asked, fear in his voice.

Shun laughed when he saw the look on his son's ace. "If you'd read, it mentions you need to sacrifice blood. Something simple like a bite on the thumb or a kunai scratch will do," Shun said, reassuring Naruto that he needn't sacrifice something like a leg each time he wished to summon.

"Ok, have you read the scroll?" Shun asked, and receiving a nod from Naruto, continued. "Ok, now we need to get a contract. You can go with what you're uncle summoned – the mighty battle toads, or you can summon MY animal – the fox," explained Shun, giving Naruto the choice of two creatures. Sure he heard toads were legendary among the contracted animals, he decided to go with the foxes – after all, his nickname was Fox-boy.

"I choose the foxes!" shouted Naruto, earning him a grin from Shun and a "SHUT UP!" from the neighbors.

"Excellent! Now to get the contract!" Shun said as he bit his thumb and his hands blurred through the seals. "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"**

He slammed his palm down, and an intricate pattern of seals expanded out, then shrank back in, and a large cloud of smoke poofed into existence, slowly being replaced by a large blue fox with a scroll on its back.

"Greetings, Uzumaki-sama. Have you summoned me to have another signature added, or merely to enjoy my company?" he asked, with a slight amount of annoyance in his voice.

"I have called you, Hayai, because we have another signature to add. My son," at this point, Naruto stepped forward "Naruto." Shun said this with his own form of annoyance, he still didn't like Hayai, even though he was the carrier fox for the contract. "Naruto, first you need to- Naruto? NARUTO!" Shun was yelling for Naruto, who had disappeared inside, looking for a pen. "What are you doing!"

"Looking for a pen!" he responded, then almost made it back inside when Shun not only made it their, but pick ed up Naruto, carried him back to Hayai, and tossed him on the ground in the time it took Naruto to blink. "Whoa. Did I blink?"

"Yes. Naruto, I forgot to mention, in order to sign a contract, it must be," he grabbed the giant scroll and unrolled it "in blood." He showed Naruto where he signed it, his father, his grandmother and her twin, all the way back to his great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, with the forging of the scroll. "Come here."

Naruto did as he was told, and walked over to Shun, who was holding something metal in his hands. He held out his hand, because when he got closer he saw Shun was holding a kunai with a fox engraved on its handle, the traditional kunai to cut the skin of the contract-signer. His hand was cut, and he signed his name onto he next blank space after Shun's name, followed by his handprint.

"Excellent! Now that you've signed, Hayai, you may go now," Shun said, strapping the scroll back onto the large fox, who promptly vanished, glad to be gone of the annoying humans.

"Okay Naruto, now to try summon. You need to get your blood on your hand. The preferred method is biting your thumb, like so." He bit his thumb, letting the blood flow to show Naruto. "Please do the same." So Naruto bit his own thumb.

"Now, mold the right amount of chakra, which may not seem hard, but to summon the animal you want, you need to be able to mold the right amount of chakra. Right now, let's just worry about actually summoning." Naruto began to focus his chakra, and collected it in his hand. "Watch closely now, because I'm going to show you the seals." He quickly performed them.

_Ram. Boar. Dog. Horse. Boar. _Naruto Performed them as soon as he saw them.

"And strike your hand, facedown on the earth. **Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" **He slammed his fist down, and watched Naruto do the same. Shun had summoned a medium-sized (about 3 feet tall) fox, who when he saw Naruto, understood why he was summoned, and decided to sit there and watch his master's son.

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" **Naruto slammed his own hand down, and after watching the seals do their little dance, he felt excited. _I'm summoning! _However, that excitement was squashed when he saw WHAT he summoned.

"Yo," was the first thing he heard from the little green fox named Chikai, who was no more than 1 foot tall.

"AGH! WHAT IS THIS! I THOUGHT YOU SAID THE MORE CHAKRA YOU PUT IN, THE BIGGER YOU'D SUMMON!" Naruto had gone off the end when he saw that he had expended all that chakra in a futile attempt to call a large fox.

"Don't feel bad Naruto, I summoned worse on my first try. I summoned someone even smaller than Chikai here. So for the first try, you did great. Wanna try again?" Shun encouraged Naruto, but seeing his son's eyelids drooping, decided to call it a night instead. "Actually, you need to get up early tomorrow anyways. You have a meeting with your team at 9, don't you?"

"Oh, right. Let's go then…" THUD! Naruto had no sooner finished his sentence then he hit the ground. Shun picked up his son, and he dragged him inside, waving off his summon. He placed Naruto in his bed, said good night, and then decided he'd go to bed too. He had to be up early tomorrow too, after all.

A/N: Wow, so much work in doing Jutsus. If anyone knows the right sequences of seals for these things or knows where I can find them, I'd be much obliged if you could tell me.

Also, I broke my thumb today, and they have me in a weird splint, so expect little to know updates for about a week. Sorry.

**Word Count: 1384**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: No Naruto, but tonight we had chili dogs with cheese! YUM!

"speak"

_Thought_

_**Kyuubi**_

**Ch 5 – Team 7**

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

"Naruto, wake up!"

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

"Naruto!"

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

"NARUTO!"

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING---- SMASH!

Shun had had enough of Naruto's alarm, and swore as God as his witness he would never hear it for 10 minutes again. He hated that alarm with a passion, because it woke him up instantly, but Naruto slept through it like a rock, having developed immunity to it like all other bad things he encountered. Shun had decided that today – being Naruto's first day with his team – he would wake Naruto up a little more…creatively than usual. He spent about 15 minutes setting it up, and thanked God that Naruto was such a heavy sleeper. To finally put his plan into action, he carefully tiptoed over to Naruto's bed and yelled the magic words: "NARUTO! RAMEN FOR BREAKFAST!" Naruto was up in a heartbeat and sat up immediately, hitting his head on a bucket placed precariously over his head. He tried to move, but to his horror found himself strapped to the bed from the waist down and hands tied behind his back.

The bucket spilled ice water all over him, and all he could do was sit there and take it. Shun by now was on the floor laughing, tears streaming down his face, and decided to let Naruto out. With a quick slash of a kunai, Naruto was out of bed and stepped onto the floor…

The one that was covered in oil. As soon as he stepped on it, his water soaked feet slipped and he slid out the door, into the hallway, and hit the opposite wall, where a SECOND bucket of ice water was waiting. It tipped over, and splashed Naruto a second time. Now Shun was having such a hard time breathing through his laughs that he could have been declared legally dead. Naruto, after having been thoroughly soaked and woken up, stood up and gave his father such a glare that if looks could kill, Shun would have been a smoldering pile of ashes on the floor in seconds.

This only furthered his amusement and laughed even harder, his face turning blue from lack of oxygen. He finally stopped after ten minutes, composed himself, and dried off the second floor of their house with a simple drying jutsu. Having had his laughs, Shun apologized to Naruto and made him ramen for breakfast (after eating Naruto acted like nothing had happened). They both said goodbye to each other, activated the locking seals on the house, and went their separate ways, Naruto to Training Area 21, and Shun to his job, working on inventing and modifying new seals, something the Uzumaki clan specialized in (however, Naruto never quite got the affinity for sealing, but seeing as how Jiraiya was his teacher, he was going to learn).

Naruto arrived at TA21 (TA training area) to find a large bullfrog waiting there, along with Sasuke and a thoroughly ticked Sakura.

"Where is he! The note said to be here at 9, but no Jiraiya! Where is he?" Sakura asked no one in particular, Sasuke just standing next to a tree, and Naruto having just arrived.

"He's already here! Or at least, a messenger of his!" Naruto proclaimed, pointing next to the tree.

Sakura followed his finger, but didn't see anyone. "What are you talking about, baka?"

"You're looking too high. Look lower," Naruto said, confident in his deduction abilities.

She followed his advice, but only saw a large bullfrog. "The frog? That's stupid. It can't be a messenger. Frogs can't even talk."

"Oh yeah they can! Watch the frog and you'll learn," Naruto retaliated, remembering his dad talk about Shuhan and his frogs all the time, and their boss, the legendary Gamabunta. Naruto had never seen Gamabunta, but knew what a nin-frog looked like, and the large bullfrog fit the description. "Hey, Gama-san! Tell Jiraiya-sensei we're here!" Naruto yelled at the frog, who's only response was a curt nod, then it POOFED! into smoke as his job was finished. In his place appeared a large man with spiky white hair and a large container on his back that was used to hold scrolls.

"Aha! I see my messenger was discovered! Who was it!" the Gama-sennin asked the three young genin. Sakura pointed at Naruto, and Sasuke only responded with "The dobe," making Naruto respond with a "Hey!" Jiraiya just watched all this with amusement_. So these are the legends. _He looked at Sasuke._ Uchiha Sasuke, the only known survivor of the Uchiha Clan massacre, and heir to the almighty Sharingan. He also appears to prefer Ninjutsu._ He turned to Naruto. _Uzumaki Naruto, son of the Yondaime's twin brother (they look so much alike) and from what I hear an excellent Taijutsu user. _Finally he turned to Sakura. _Ah, the Haruno. She appears to have some Genjutsu affinity, but I see a little Slug in her._

"Alright team, you've all talked a bit, but let me talk a bit." Jiraiya tried to introduce himself, but the genins kept talking. (Well, two of the three.) "Guys, let me talk." He tried again, to the same result. A vein began pulsing in his forehead. "Alright, that's it!" e formed the Rabbit seal and snapped his fingers. "**Sairensa no Jutsu! (Silencer Jutsu!)**"

The genins kept talking, but found no voices came out of their mouth. They all looked at Jiraiya with mixed expressions of confusion, horror, and relief. "Finally, I can talk. Hello Team, my name is Jiraiya, the Gama-Sennin, though you may call me Jiraiya-sensei, Jiraiya-san, Gama-sennin (though that's more of a nickname), or just Jiraiya is fine. Now, I would like each of you to tell us your name, and one thing about you. You first, pinky." He pointed at Sakura, then made a half-Tiger and said "Kai!" Sakura found she could talk, but knew he'd put it back on when she finished, so she decided to make as much of this time as possible.

"Hello. My name is Haruno Sakura, and a live in Northern Konoha. I like to use Genjutsu, but Iruka-sen-, I mean, Iruka-san said that I lacked in the Taijutsu area." She finished her little monologue, and braced herself for the jutsu that was to come, but never felt it. She looked at Jiraiya, who only looked back and said "You're done. Just listen to the others. You next bushy." _Heh, I guess I have a habit of calling people by their hair. Better not do that again on the blon—I mean short one._ He undid the jutsu on Sasuke, who took a short breath and stated 'Uchiha Sasuke. I live in Apt. 32-B. I don't like talking." He finished with a look at Jiraiya that just screamed "I'm strong enough, why do I need a stupid teacher like you. The pulsing vein was back on the Gama-sennin's head, but he surpressed the urge to kill the Uchiha –_It would look bad on my record – _and decided to let Naruto talk. He once again pointed at Naruto, undid the Jutsu, and said "Your turn shorty." He undid Naruto, who immediately proclaimed "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage! I like miso ramen and new jutsus, and my dad taught me everything I know!" He stopped shouting to see Jiraiya smiling, who then clapped his hands together.

"Right! Now that we all know each other, it's time for a little test," he said, and pulled off the large container from his back. "Or at least, the rest of it," he added, and chuckled seeing the confused look on their faces. "Oh yeah, finding the frog was part 1. Good job Naruto," he explained, and that calmed down the two of them (Sasuke just stood there the whole time). "Next is a written test."

Hearing this made Naruto cringe, Sakura smile, Sasuke…well, not much different. Jiraiya saw these, laughed and said "Oh don't worry, it's just to see if you're ninja material. See, only three teams are actually allowed in. If you get a combined team score of 60 you pass, but just to make sure that you don't just use each other, you must also get an individual score of 50 or more. No sweat! This just decided whether or not you get to be ninja or go back tot eh academy!" He finished off with a smile, set down the needed equipment, and walked over to a tree, sat down and started to nap. The newly instated/momentary genins looked at the test, gulped, and then began the test.

A/N: Wow, such an unoriginal little bastard aren't I? Kakashi isn't the only one to use a test to determine the genin. Will Team 7 make it? Will Naruto pass? Will I get some cheese? Find out next time, on "The P/P/F Hokage!"

**Word Count: 1422**


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: insert standard disclaimer here

"speak"

_Thought_

_**Kyuubi**_

**Ch 6 - The Test**

The test, in itself, was relatively easy, considering who was taking it. Haruno Sakura, highest written exams test scores in three years. Uchiha Sasuke, genius prodigy of the Uchiha Clan. Uzumaki Naruto…deadweight from the neck up. He was the only reason the test was as easy as Jiraiya made it. He had opened his scroll, looked at it for a minute, and then swore he felt his brain seep out of his ears. No way could he do this!

_Alright, no problem, if Sasuke can do this, then I can too! Number 1…If a ninja has 64 chakra remaining, how many times can he use the Kawarimi no Jutsu and still have 30 chakra left? What the…_ Naruto looked at this, with a blank look on his face. He decided to try another one first.

_Okay, question two! How many shuriken would a ninja need to create 30 Kage Shuriken using only 4 chakra for each shuriken? _…Right! On to the next one!

This went on for a while, Naruto reading each question, breaking his brain, then looking at the next one, then finding that he had reached the end of the page only answering one question (_Question twenty-seven: The title of the Kage of Fire Country is )_. He was looking back at the paper and realized that it didn't feel like a normal scroll, like something was placed on the back. He looked at the other two to see if they felt it as well, but they were too busy with calculations and writing. Naruto decided that he would act on an impulse, and trying his hardest to get the chakra right, he touched his scroll, formed a half-Tiger, and whispered "Kai." He saw the words on his page dissolve, form a blank scroll, then re-write themselves into a message.

**Congratulations generic student. This is a prerecorded message. You have successfully found the secret of the scroll, and thus receive an automatic 100. The other two may receive this score as well, if they figure it out or if they answer the questions correctly. Please return the scroll to me, and feel free to pass the rest of the time in your own accordance. **

**Sincerely, **

**Jiraiya-sensei**

Naruto read this and, feeling pleased with himself (_Take that Sasuke-bastard!_) he rolled up the scroll, chucked it at Jiraiya, and not even caring if the frog master responded to it or not, walked over to a tree, sat down, and took a nap. Sasuke watched this, and decided the idiot just gave up, and continued on his happy, but oh so ignorant way.

About 20 minutes later, Naruto and Jiraiya were awoken from their naps with a loud yell of "DONE!" from the bubblegum hair and a soft "Finished" from the Uchiha. Jiraiya grabbed their scrolls, read over the answers, checked them off, and told them their scores.

"Sasuke, you scored a 92, well, though in one question you answered in such a wrong fashion you must be a real idiot. The answer to 'What kind of Jutsu can be accomplished with a blood signing?' is not 'Shuriken,' but 'Kuchiyose,' though that's expected because you weren't taught that in school. Still though, well done." With that, he turned to Sakura.

"You received a 99. The only reason you took the one point penalty is that you spent half the time looking over at Sasuke instead of focusing on the task at hand. A kunoichi should not be distracted so easily from her mission." Finally, he turned to Naruto.

"Blondie here received a 100 beach-" he ever got to finish because Sakura responded with a loud "WHAT!" and Sasuke just stood there, raw envy coming off of him in waves. "Yes, a 100, because he found the secret."

"What secret?" asked Sakura, and Sasuke was wondering that too.

"Let me demonstrate." He touched the scrolls, formed the Half-Tiger, said "Kai," and presto, the congratulations wrote itself onto the scroll. "I don't blame either of you though, the Uzumaki clan was known for its affinity for seals." He turned and smiled at Naruto, who just stood there with a big smile that showed off every last one of his teeth. _Just like Shuhan. Well, he is the nephew of the grand Yondaime._

Jiraiya clapped his hands, and the scrolls disappeared, presumably back into the container. "Right, now that you finished part two of the test it is time for the final part!" He grinned and looked at the ninjas. Sasuke looked confident, Sakura looked scared, and Naruto looked…Naruto. "The final part of the exam is… survival!"

"Survival? What does that mean?" asked Naruto, always the slow one. Sakura and Sasuke just stared at him, both thinking the same thoughts. _This idiot graduated…how?_

"Survival! Exactly what it sounds like! You must survive my final test for 24 hours. If you do, you pass! There are secondary objectives, however, and completing them will earn you these." Jiraiya explained, pulling out several scrolls Naruto immediately recognized as jutsu scrolls. "The red ones are Ninjutsu, the blue ones are Genjutsu, the yellow ones are Taijutsu, and the pink are a special kind of Ninjutsu, medical jutsus." He showed these, remembering from when Iruka told him how much each person seemed to favor one kind over the other (Sasuke – tai, Sakura – gen, Naruto – nin. He still didn't know who'd go after the medic jutsus). "These will be hidden all around the area, and you must collect them. At the end, however, you may swap scrolls with other people. The person who collects the most scrolls also gets a special scroll and a cash prize," he finished up, thinking about how much that'd motivate them.

Naruto's ears perked up after hearing the winner got a special scroll, and immediate wondered what it was. He didn't have time to think long, however, as Jiraiya put them all away and began hopping to training area 32, a place used for survival training. "If you want these scrolls, come and follow me!" he yelled behind him, then felt several chakra flashes and knew his team was following him. _Let's see if they can finish my final test. If they can , they are truly worthy to be Konoha shinobi._ He was thinking this because only one team had ever finished his course, was the team that HE was on.

Team 7 arrived at TA32, a little winded but charged up for the most part, Sakura being the exception. _She needs to work on her stamina. _Naruto and Sasuke were just hyped to go, both ready for the prospect of a new jutsu or seven. Jiraiya decided to let Sakura catch her breath, then explained the rules. "In TA32, I will hide a total of 20jutsu scrolls, handwritten by myself. The level of the scroll will tell you the difficulty of finding it." At this Naruto made a mental note: _Low-ranked jutsus easy finds, high-ranked hard to get._ "Whoever earns the most scroll points gets a special scroll, from a selection of three. Now, scroll points. Each scroll's rank determines the point value. Basically, a D-rank is worth 1 point, and an S-rank would be worth 5 points. This way, just finding easy scrolls won't help you win. There is a key scroll at the center of the area, and when three hands are laid down on it – different hands – it will activate, and the test is over. You have exactly one day. Begin." With that, Jiraiya threw his scroll container in the air, released the seal on it, and in a bright flash of light, the scrolls were gone and so were the genins. The race was on.

A/N: Well? Is that an original final test? And what jutsus should I place in the scrolls? The breakdown, FYI, goes like this: 6 D-rank, 5 C-rank, 4 B-rank, 3 A-rank, and 2 S-rank (cookie for who guesses these already-planned ones.) Questions? Comments? Cheese? Lemme know so I can fix them!

**Word Count: 1278**


	7. Chapter 7

"speak"

_Thought_

_**Kyuubi**_

**Jutsu**

**Ch 7 – Survival**

The race was on. Team 7 went into the area and was surprised to see rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. A little further east revealed a HUGE desert, and some ways west of the rocks was a forest the size of the Hokage Monument. Needless to say, Team 7 was surprised. Jiraiya wasn't kidding when he said the place would be big.

Right in front of the gate was a scroll, and Sasuke was at it in the blink of an eye. He was back to the team and showed them the scroll. It had a large **D **on the label. _That would explain why it was so easy to find. _Naruto realized.

The three genins quickly held a small conference (okay two. Sasuke just sort of stood there) about what to do, and eventually it was decided that Sasuke would look in the rock portion of the field, Sakura in the forest and Naruto would take the desert. Naruto objected (_Why should I have to take the hot area?_) but was ignored when Sakura went to see of her beloved 'Sasuke-kun.'

(A/N: I won't go into detail on their exploits, just think that their whole ordeal is something like how I describe.

)))) With Sasuke ((((

After finally shaking off the leech, Sasuke left his team to go to the forest. He ran some chakra through his legs to help speed him up, and arrived in a relatively short time. The first thing he noticed was it was hot. Apparently, sunlight (and as a side result, heat) could get through the canopy coming down, it was trapped going up. Therefore, a lot of heat was trapped just above the ground and just below the leaves, exactly where a shinobi would most travel. The second thing he noticed – quite painfully – was the bugs. The large, finger-sized mosquitoes and arm-sized spiders. Inwardly, Sasuke was freaking out. He hated bugs, spiders, anything that had more than four legs. It was just unnatural. After calming down for a second, he jumped into the trees and began his hunt for the scrolls.

After a minute or two of hopping around, Sasuke realized he would have to travel on the ground because the trees were to enclosed and hot to move effectively. He dropped to the ground, and in doing so sprung a trap. He heard a twang and saw about fifteen shuriken flying at him. Being a shuriken master, he easily dodged them, even catching a few to add to his arsenal. However, the few he let through hit another string, and that launched a volley of kunai. He dodged that volley, again grabbing a few, and once again left some through, those few triggering another trap. This time it was a large spiked log dropping down and almost impaling our favorite genin through the torso. Luckily he managed to Kawarimi with a nearby log, but that triggered the last trap in this little series: a huge pit suddenly opened around him, lined with spikes at the bottom. Sasuke had the instinct to jump when he saw the pit open, and he managed to Kawarimi again with a large rock nearby.

Watching the rock fall, Sasuke turned around, but doubled back when he realized that there was a scroll at the bottom of the pit. Grumbling about 'the stupid frog-man,' he carefully climbed down, and locked his feet on a large root hanging out of the pit wall. He grabbed the scroll, and then flipped himself up back to ground level. He looked at the label on the scroll, and was pleased to find a large **C** on the scroll. He decided that doing all that acrobatics had left him tired, plus he was real hot, he left to find a safe spot to take a short rest. Walking around for a few minutes revealed a large flat area that he deemed safe enough for him to rest and eat a small snack, he started off back towards the middle of the area when suddenly…

)))) With Sakura ((((

After Sasuke finally peeled her off of him, he left, and Naruto left after that, leaving her no choice but to go ahead and get to the rocky area. Upon arrival, she noticed that not only was the place covered in rocks, but there seemed to be cracked grounds everywhere. The only places she could effectively walk on were the rocks. What was worse, the rocks were spaced just far enough apart that she would have to use chakra to jump far enough to travel the rocks. This would normally not be a problem, but for someone like Sakura, who had little to no chakra reserves, it was a big problem.

She resolved to try use as little chakra as possible, but found no other way to get from rock to rock other than jumping. Sighing, she moved some chakra through her legs and leaped, moving from rock to rock, when she landed on one particularly large rock. As soon as her feet landed on the rock, she realized something.

It wasn't a rock.

To be more precise, it didn't exist. She landed on the rock, fell through the rock, and then landed in a HUGE cave. She realized then that the cave was where the actual part of the training course would take place. She got up from her rather ungraceful fall and began walking around, trying to find a clue as to where to go.

After wandering around, she found an underground river, and decided to follow it upstream, hopefully finding a way back to surface level.

Several minutes after walking, she noticed that she wasn't really getting anywhere. She pumped some chakra into her legs and began to run faster, but afterwards, when she looked around, the rock that she had fallen "through" hadn't moved more than possibly five feet. Now that she noticed it, the area looked like it had been laid over itself, like it was itself, then another layer on top of it. Unable to see through the Genjutsu, she had to make do with biting her cheek to get rid of it with the pain. Once she saw that, she saw that she had actually made it nearly 100 feet in the underground cavern, bypassing several holes in the ceiling. She backtracked some ten feet, and prepared to jump up, but saw a just scroll lying out. She decided to go after the scroll, but as soon as she got within five feet of it, a huge wall of rock appeared.

She began to back away, and when she was about seven feet away, the wall receded. She walked forwards and backwards a few times, and managed to find out nothing except when she got too close, the wall appeared, and when she got far enough away, it shrank back down. She wondered how far it went, so she jumped up and forward, thinking she had jumped high enough to avoid it, and smacked right into it. After sliding down, she realized it was a Doton Ninjutsu, but had never seen it, so had no idea how to counter it. The only Suiton she knew was a plant watering one she learned in Kunoichi Class, but decided against trying it, knowing it would only waste chakra. She got close enough to it to make it appear, and walked around it, and it followed her, not allowing her to pass. She suddenly had an idea, and threw a little rock around it, and the wall followed it. She realized it was a Ninjutsu that relied on its "sight" to work, so she made about 5 Bunshins, and made 3 run around one way and had two follow her. They formed a hexagonal shape around it, and then dashed forward to grab the scroll.

Confused by this sudden rush of six people, the wall tried to intercept the nearest one, successfully blocking it…

Only to have it vanish, with the scroll it was guarding along with it. It had blocked a Bunshin, and Sakura had grabbed the scroll. Since it had been defeated, the hidden trap under the scroll was activated, and dozens of explosive tags fell from the ceiling, exploding at different rates, and Sakura realized that to get back up to the hole, she'd have to go through them. Pushing chakra under her, she launched herself up and a tag snuck its way onto her and exploded, leaving singed skin behind. Wincing, she landed on top of a solid rock and sat down to rest awhile. She decided to check her scroll, and was just giddy to see it had a large, bold **B **on it. She decided she needed to rest a bit to recover from that draining experience and drank some energy formula she always had on her to compensate for her poor stamina, then began to walk again towards where she though the center was, but then…

)))) With Naruto ((((

After watching Sakura-chan see of her 'Sasuke-kun,' and watch him pry her off of him, Naruto decided to skip the goodbye and just left, heading for the desert. When he got about fifteen feet in, his first thought was _Dang, it's hot in here._ Slowly he came to the conclusion that he'd have to lose his beloved jacket in order to not overheat himself, and thusly he shed his jacket after removing all his valuables: his spare kunai, the scroll with the Kuchiyose technique he had yet to perfect, the ramen – wait, he could Kuchiyose!

After realizing his utter stupidity and thanking his dad for getting the contract, he bit his thumb, smeared the blood over his hand, then ran through the seals and slammed his hand down. "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" **A large puff of smoke materialized, and within it, a medium-sized fox, slightly smaller than Hayai appeared, and asked "What do you need?"

Naruto was surprised he managed to get a big enough fox, but felt a little woozy from it, so he just said "Gimme a lift, if you can, and keep an eye out for any scrolls" before he collapsed onto the foxes back. He just needed a quick nap then his chakra would recharge and he'd be fit as a fiddle.

He awoke about an hour later to find himself at an oasis with the fox – now known as Ryoukou – who had managed to three scrolls, two **Ds, **but the summon (dangerously low on energy at this point) actually managed a **C. **Naruto felt that the summon had overworked himself, and let him know ("I said keep an eye out, not hunt them down!") and dispelled him. Feeling refreshed and ready to go, he made his way to the supposed center of the area, where the large scroll would most likely be.

Walking for that distance however, made Naruto realize exactly how large the desert was. More than once he wished he learned a Doton jutsu just so he could travel under the sand.

After walking around for about a half hour and only finding a D rank jutsu, he decided that he'd had enough and started running chakra through his legs to his feet, where he immediately began running as fast as he could. On the way to the center, however, he found something very interesting…

)))) All 3 ((((

They had all found an inscribed seal that had the kanji for the word "Move" in it. Wondering what it was, they touched it and pumped some chakra into it, then found themselves full and refreshed. Thinking it was something to help the students on the way, they began running again, but found that they were running at speeds EASILY in excess of 250 kph, finding themselves already at the center gate area. Seeing each other all there, they walked over – thankfully, the seal seemed to have worn off, as they moved relatively slow – and all asked the same question – how'd you get here so fast?

Once they all told of their exploits (Naruto feeling sad because even Sakura had scored a B-rank jutsu) they found that the gate was divided into three sections, with a small hole in each wall holding a scroll with a large **A **on it, one yellow, one blue, and one red. Each remembering what Jiraiya had said, and each favoring a certain Jutsu-type, they each stood at their pre-determined scroll (Naruto at Red, Sakura at Blue, and Sasuke at Yellow) and lifted the scroll up.

Immediately, the walls disappeared, and in the middle of the circle, on a large ornate pedestal, stood the large scroll, easily identifiable with its large bold **SS **on it. An **SS** on a scroll meant one of two things – two S-rank jutsus, or one scroll with information on a Kinjutsu. However, it was only in sight for so long, when suddenly a large tongue came down and swallowed the scroll whole, revealing a large frog with Jiraiya standing on top of it.

"What, did you think I'd make this easy?"

-------------------

Sorry for the unupdates lately, it kinda slipped my mind, and I kinda had an anti-anime vibe running through me through the whole last part of school. However, hopefully now I can update once or twice a week. Just to make up for it, an update Thursday and Saturday to say sorry.

Well? Questions? Comments? Cheese?

**Word Count: 2173**


	8. Chapter 8

Alright, I know I said I'd update the 21st, but I have too many ideas running through my head right now. Plus, I just read Manga Ch 323, so hey; I'm in the mood. By the way, while reading this chapter, some of you may notice I'm writing in a different style. Don't worry; I'm just seeing if it writes neater than the other way, though it appears that it works better. Just warning you in advance.

Now, Ch 8 of the Past, Present, and Future Hokage!

**Ch 8 – Final Exam**

"What, did you think I'd make this easy?"

"Agh! I thought that once we got here it'd be easy!" yelled, predictably, one Uzumaki Naruto.

"Tch. Did you really think that the last part of this exam would be the easiest, dobe?" said, again predictably, the last Uchiha.

"Of course only Naruto would think of that Sasuke-kun!" wailed, once again predictably, the only ninja in Konoha with Pink hair, Haruno Sakura. "But not you!"

"…" If this had been a TV show, Sasuke would have had a huge bead of sweat roll down his head. "Well, since we're here, we may as well get this over with. I have an idea, but Gum-head here" (at the Sakura fumed) "may not like it," the Uchiha stated.

"What? Why not?" asked Sakura.

"Because it involves getting swallowed by that giant toad, that's why," returned Naruto, who actually managed to understand the plan, because that was his original plan.

"Eww! That's disgusting!" wiled Sakura again, shaking from the thought of being crushed inside that frog's throat.

"So? It's still a good idea!" yelled Naruto, for once siding with Sasuke. "But, I may have a better idea…" and Naruto started whispering to his teammates. Surprised with the complexity of his plan, both Sasuke and Sakura quickly agreed and turned to face both the giant toad and the white-haired pervert who stood on its head.

"Well? Are we ready to begin now?" yelled Jiraiya down to the three new grads. "Or can I just fail you and send you back to the Academy?"

"NEVER, OLD MAN!" yelled Naruto while Sasuke and Sakura both broke off and headed for the toad's flanks, Sasuke running through a two-seal Jutsu and Sakura reaching for her tool pouch.

"**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! (Grand Fireball!)" **yelled Sasuke as he finished his last seal and blew a large fireball up at Jiraiya, who merely ran through a longer seal-set and countered with his own Jutsu.

"**Katon: Chou Goukakyuu no Jutsu! (Hyper Grand Fireball!)" **countered the white-haired Sannin, and he expelled a fireball easily ten times larger than Sasuke's and launched it towards the Uchiha boy but no before noticing he wore no tool pouch. Launching the fireball both incinerated the weaker Katon and added the smaller fireball to its own mass. Sasuke only had one shot at this, and hoped it'd work. The fireball seemed to swallow the boy whole, but once it vanished, all Jiraiya saw was a pile of ashes that looked like a Kawarimi log.

_So, the boy is fast enough to g through those seals unseen. Interesting, _thought the Toad Hermit, while he scanned the area for the Pink-haired kunoichi, and finding her by the rear of the circle, just behind him. Seeing her slightly panting, he decided either she ran around him a few times, or she just ran extra fast to get there so she could set a trap. Either way, the whole situation screamed "TRAP!", so Jiraiya ordered the large frog to jump up and over any possible traps, landing just shy of where the trio had started.

Looking over the scene, he saw that Naruto had also vanished, and started to quickly look around for the loudmouthed boy, easily seeing the orange-colored jumpsuit that stuck out from behind a rock.

"Gama-san, give me some oil!" commanded the Toad Hermit, and he ran through another set of seals, this time shorter than his last Jutsu, landing finally on the Tora. "**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"** and lit the oil the frog began spewing out of its mouth, lighting it and creating a flamethrower that lanced towards the jacket, only to find that it was indeed just a jacket, with no one inside of it. His mistake was only confirmed when he heard the fateful words of "**Ninpou: Kuchiyose no Jutsu! (Ninja Art: Summoning!)"**

"Hey old man! That was my favorite jacket!" yelled Naruto, as he began running - no, riding quickly towards the frog master on the back of what appeared to be a large yellow fox, with two tails waving behind it. _So, Naruto knows how to Summon? Very interesting._ "Time to finish this! Nikiiro, let's go!" he shouted to the fox, who promptly sped up and leapt down the frog's open throat much to Jiraiya's and the toad's surprise. The fox lodged itself just in the back of its throat while Naruto jumped off its back, while Jiraiya noted that he too wore no tool pouch.

The frog, knowing what was coming next, began desperately hacking in order to expel the fox, but it had taken such root that the frog only succeeded in coughing up the scroll. Seeing this, its eyes widened and it snaked its tongue out to snatch the scroll back up.

Seeing her cue, Sakura, who had thus far been ignored in the conflict became a key piece as she cut a wire that had been holding back several shuriken and kunai, much more than one genin should carry. _Of course_, Jiraiya relized. _She took the pouches and sprung the trap. Clever girl._

The sharp tools had the intended effect of cutting the toad's tongue in half, and while the scroll dropped, Sakura cut another wire that released a net which grabbed the scroll and brought it to her. In a flash, her blonde and black-haired teammates were there, and all three laid a hand on the scroll. This caused a loud chime to ring, and TA32 shifted to where it looked, again, like a normal door.

"Well then, I guess that these three brats really do have what it takes to be Genin," Jiraiya said to himself as he dismounted and dispelled the toad, and walked over to the three who were congratulating each other in their own way: Naruto trying and failing to hug Sakura, Sakura trying and failing to hug Sasuke, and Sasuke trying and failing to ignore the glomping leech on his arm. All three fell silent however as the Toad Hermit walked silently over, and gave them a look that could melt steel.

"Well, you three young upstarts have completed the final part of the exam. So, in my final verdict…"

While this may not be the best way to hang a cliff over, I figure I need to stop here. It's almost bedtime, and I'm ideaed out.

Questions? Comments? Cheese?

**Word Count: 1026**


	9. Chapter 9

big line - scene change  
**Jutsu**  
_**Kyuubi/Inner Sakura**  
Thoughts  
Reading  
_(translations)

**Ch 9 – Homework?**

"…You pass. Congratulations. It is now official; you three are hereby pronounced, in the name of Jiraiya the Gama-Sannin, official Genin!" announced Jiraiya, to which all three new ninja countered with pronounced enthusiasm (well, as much as one could expect from the Uchiha).

"However, this is not the end of the trials. Now that you are Genin, you will begin to take missions for Konohagakure no Sato (The Village Hidden in the Leaves), meaning that you are now official representatives of the Shinobi Community of Konoha." Here he paused for emphasis, scrutinizing each of the new ninja, taking a long time at Naruto who was fidgeting around a lot.

"If I find any reason to, I will have your shinobi status revoked and you will be banned from reentry; I am not a lazy teacher, I will be here on time every morning at 6 and will not accept tardiness from anyone, unlike some people."

* * *

Elsewhere, a certain grey-haired Jounin sneezed while reading an orange book with a large red circle on it.

* * *

"For now though, we have some other business to take care of. Do you all remember the original objective of this training exercise?" asked the Toad Hermit. 

"Hai, sensei. We were supposed to be collecting scrolls as we looked for the middle of the area, and whoever got the most points gets a special scroll and a cash prize," answered Sakura, while Naruto looked on with hope that he won.

"Correct. Now, please hold out your scrolls."

"I know I got enough! I got two A-Rank scrolls! I'm gonna win this!" proclaimed Naruto as Jiraiya tallied up the scores. "No way I'm gonna lose!"

As he continued rambling on, Jiraiya interrupted with a short "Done counting; I know who the winner of the scroll and the 50,000 ryou cash prize is."

_50,000 ryou! _thought each Genin, including Sasuke, even though he had inherited a fair amount of money from his parents after their deaths at the hand of his brother.

"The winner is…Sakura, for obtaining her 1 S-rank and 2 A-rank scrolls. Since you won, you get the 50,000 ryou," he tossed a bag of bills at her, "plus one of these scrolls." At this, he brought out from his pouch on his back 3 scrolls, each with a large bold **SS** on it. "I have a scroll on a unique Taijutsu stance known only to a few people that utilizes pure speed and stamina, a scroll on a Genjutsu able to rival that of the fabled Mangekyou Sharingan's Tsukuyomi technique, and a Ninjutsu capable of leveling a 50 mile square radius around you," said Jiraiya, as he watched Sasuke and Naruto lift their jaws off the floor at the mention of the stance and the Ninjutsu attack.

"Hmm… you know, I think I'll take the Taijutsu scroll. Maybe having a better stance can help me to improve upon my poor skills in hand-to-hand," she said, as she was handed the large yellow scroll.

"Now, you two, since Sasuke obtained the other S-rank scroll, he may pick from one of these A-rank jutsus I have on me. Again, they are a Taijutsu scroll on advanced Tekken techniques, plus information on a lesser used stance, a Ninjutsu that allows the user to duplicate any item they need, much in accordance to the Kage Shuriken Bunshin technique, and a Genjutsu that fools all 5 senses of the brain," explained Jiraiya as Sasuke decided to take the Ninjutsu scroll.

"Now, since Naruto here collected the least amount of scrolls, he gets no choice of scrolls, but gets to decide what rank scroll he wants, from D up to B."

"Well, since I got no choice, can I get a C rank jutsu? Something Easy maybe?" asked Naruto, not comfortable with the idea on receiving a random type scroll. Jiraiya responded y handing him a smallish blue scroll. _Aww man! Genjutsu? Not cool! _thought Naruto as he accepted the scroll with a 'smile.'

"Now that we are all done, you may go and do whatever you do. However, I have some homework for you. Sakura," he started, looking her way, "I expect to see at least one technique on that scroll by tomorrow. Sasuke," he continued, looking at the Uchiha, "I want to see at least some form of an item replication tomorrow. Naruto, all I want you to do is try and get the basics of that Genjutsu down," he finished, looking at the blond who was trying desperately to burn the scroll with no one looking.

"Now, dismissed!" yelled Jiraiya as his team vanished to go to their respective homes.

_Hehehe…now I can get on with my 'research,' _thought Jiraiya as he made his way to Konoha's famous hot spring bath areas.

* * *

_So, Jiraiya-sensei wants to see me perform a technique from this scroll by tomorrow, huh? Shouldn't be too hard _thought Sakura as she walked home, looking at the title of the large **SS **rank Taijutsu scroll. _Let's see…this style is known as the Hayai Shikyo Style (Quick Death). So, Sensei wasn't kidding when he meant that the style was based on speed. Aright, now that I think I know what's in the scroll, let's look in it._

She opened the scroll, and was shocked to see it had dozens of techniques listed on what she decided was the index. _1 ft 3 in – Sakura Senpuu (Cherry Blossom Hurricane)? 5 ft 7 in – Jishin Ashige (Earthquake Kick)? _Looking down, she saw that the final technique – Kouki no Kyuushutsu (Final Deliverance) – was located at 25 ft. _This scroll is 25 ft long! _exclaimed Sakura, thinking there was no way she could master all of these techniques. She decided that the easier ones must be at the top, and picked out a reasonable-looking technique; she picked the Suji no Tama (Bullet Line)technique; the picture depicted a person warping from one point to another.

_The Suji no Tama technique utilizes the user's speed in such a way as to move in a straight line to any designated target directly ahead of them. While this may seem impractical, since teleporting would be much simpler, this uses little to no chakra, thus rendering it superior to chakra-consuming techniques such as the Yondaime Hokage's infamous _Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God)_. This technique also increases one's momentum the longer they run. Turning is possible while using this technique, however the maximum recorded turn degree measured was only 10 degrees _she finished reading, amazed at how much could be done with this technique.

Sure it may not seem like much, but already Sakura was running through different ways to fully utilize this technique in other styles of combat. However, reading what speed she must achieve in order to get the technique 'properly mastered' made her pick her jaw off the floor. _150 mph! _thought Sakura, knowing that this would be a long day.

* * *

Sasuke arrived at his apartment quietly, coming in through his eastern window and promptly shutting it. _Living in an Apartment Complex instead of the Compound has some advantages after all. No noise, no "Welcome home Sasuke-kuns!"; yup, this is just fine._

Of course, we all know he's only BSing himself, and desperately misses his family and Compound. However, we'll save all that teenage angst for another story.

Sasuke, after sitting down and putting his shoes away, decided to get cracking on that Jutsu that Jiraiya was talking about. _Kage Kajou Bunshin (Shadow Item Replication), eh? Sounds good._ He read the first part of the scroll, learning that this jutsu takes any item and makes it clone itself as a manifestation of one's chakra; thus, the more chakra, the more items. It also said the jutsu was good for missions, when supplies were scarce; however, a replica- item cannot be replicated again; only original items can be replicated; finally, a replicated item only has 25 of its durability, nutrition, or dosage as a normal item, so it not an all powerful jutsu. Plus, it looked like it took a TON of chakra to replicate even a small item, like a senbon (needle) or kunai (throwing knife).

Sasuke read the last of the scroll, then decided to try it on one of his own senbon. He ran through the four or so seals, landing on Uwa (Horse) and whispering "Kage Kajou Bunshin (Shadow Item Replication)." He suddenly felt drained and started panted, looking on the floor and seeing only half of the senbon, the other half not more than a swirling mist that vanished quickly.

_HOLY CRAP! _thought Sasuke, _this takes WAAY more chakra than I have. I guess I need to REALLY increase my chakra reserves, or fine tune my control. _Deciding merely increasing the reserves would be easier, he went outside to his training grounds and started doing chakra building exercises, pausing every hour or so to see if he could make more senbon appear, taking soldier pills as needed. This the Uchiha boy continued until the late night.

* * *

"Outo-san (Dad)! I'm home!" yelled Naruto as he dropped in through his window and kicked his shoes into their cubbies, putting his slippers on. "Where are you?" yelled/asked Naruto as he rummaged through the cupboards for his afternoon snack of Instant Ramen. No matter what other universes may exist, Naruto would always be the number one ninja in Konohagakure (Hidden Leaf) of eating Ramen. 

"I'm over here Naruto! How was the first day?" responded Shun from the living area, listening to a small radio and tapping his foot to the beat as he worked on deciphering a seal he had to bring home from work. Naruto walked in just as he poked it in the wrong spot, and created a small flame jet shooting straight up. "AHH!" yelled Shun as his bright yellow hair caught fire and he quickly put out both fires using a small Suiton (Water Type) jutsu.

As in Uzumaki fashion, Naruto was quickly on the floor laughing at this. After Shun managed to get the fire under control and used a quick cosmetic jutsu to re-grow the hair lost in the horrible disaster, Of course some would be cut off later, but again, that's later.

"So, how was your day of Genin-testing?" asked Shun, quickly realizing what he said and shut his mouth with a small 'crap!'.

"What! You knew about the test and didn't tell me? I oughta punch you for that!" Naruto yelled at his dad, who just laughed and explained that 'all new academy grads had to do it.'

"Well, since that's over with, can you help me with something?" asked Naruto as he pulled out the scroll on the Genjutsu. "Jiraiya-sensei gave us some homework to do, but it's Genjutsu and you know how bad I am at Genjutsu," pleaded Naruto to his father, who looked over at the boy and nearly cried at how pitiful his son was acting.

"You know that you don't need to beg for help, son. Just ask," responded Shun as he took the scroll, opened it, and started reading.

"Well, this doesn't look too hard! Even you should do it, no sweat!" encouraged Shun as he handed the scroll back to Naruto, who looked at the name of the Jutsu in surprise

_Konoha Bunshin (Leaf Replication) no Jutsu? _thought Naruto as he continued reading, seeing that it was like a normal Bunshin, only using leaves instead of pure chakra. _Looks easy enough _though Naruto as he finished up.

_Instead of using pure chakra to create a likeness of the user, the Konoha Bunshin gathers leaves from the area and fuses them together into a likeness of the user. Chakra is used for three things in this jutsu: gathering the leaves, fusing the leaves, and transforming the leaves into the user's likeness. Several debates have been fought over this jutsu and its usefulness, since it requires quite large amounts of chakra to gather, fuse, and transform the leaves. _

_However, its most useful feature is that since they are physical replications, if enough leaves were added to give it enough density, the replication could fight alongside the creator and inflict bodily harm._

_Wow_ thought Naruto. _I guess this IS a simple jutsu. _"Alright outosan! I'm gonna go to the backyard and practice this jutsu!" yelled Naruto as he ran out the door to the backyard, where a HUGE oak tree was standing with many leaves on it.

"Alright! Since this is my first time doing this, we'll work from the ground up! Starting on the foot, here we go!" said Naruto to himself, using his mantra for jutsu-learning to concentrate. He read the scroll again, making sure he knew the proper seals, and began to focus.

He brought his hands together in the chakra-molding symbol, then once he felt he had enough chakra, he began concentrating on gathering/fusing/changing the leaves into his foot.

_Dog-Boar-Horse! _"Konoha Bunshin no Jutsu!" said Naruto as he finished with Horse and saw a bunch of leaves come flying off the tree, land on the ground, clump together and turn into the front half of his shoe.

"Aww! What's that!" asked Naruto to no one in particular. "I was going for whole foot, not half a shoe!"

Trying again, he molded a bit more chakra, went through the seals again, then released it all and saw more leaves come off the tree and combine with his show, so now he had ¾ of a shoe.

"AGGHH!" yelled a very frustrated Naruto as he went and stomped through the leaves, breaking the shoe apart.

* * *

"AGGHH!" someone screamed from a distance. Jiraiya, who was at the local bath houses, simply smiled and laughed as he knew who was screaming. 

"Now maybe I can have a little fun with this kid," mused Jiraiya as he continued sketching down pictures for his novel and writing down little notes.

* * *

**A/N:** Alright, I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. I have no schedule in life, and do things as I think of them.

Kill me now, kill me later, just leave a review and a slice of cheese at the door on the way out.

**Word Count: 2304**


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